It's a long way from Naples to New York Harbor. Yet all eyes will be on "Lady Liberty" on Sunday at Florida Sports Park.

That's the name of the swamp buggy driven by one grand lady named Lorrie Johns, who Sunday in the Spring Classic that begins at 12:30 p.m. has an opportunity to become only the second female driver to win the Budweiser Cup Series points championship.

"I feel butterflies, a lot of butterflies," Johns said Saturday during practice laps and time trials at the Mile-O-Mud oval east of Naples. "Still, it's all very exciting. It may be my turn and it may not be. We'll find out."

Sunday's competition is the third and final leg of the 2011-12 Bud Cup action, with Troy Ortega (Terminator 3) and Bonnie Walsh (Fatal Attraction) having taken Big Feature honors in November and January events, respectively.

Both of those drivers pilot Pro Modified buggies, the fastest of all the home-crafted racing machines at the soupy track. Johns, on the other hand, drives a V8 Sportsman entry, which doesn't have enough horsepower to outmuscle the big guns.

Yet Johns in November and January won her class and competed in the Big Feature. Consistent and daring, Johns has earned 19 points, compared to Ortega's 15 and Walsh's 13. Rounding out the top five in the 2011-12 points are fourth-place John Parks (air-cooled Sidewinder) with 11 and Dan Greenling (Pro Modified Roll On) with 10.

All the ingredients for a tasty day of racing are intact. Walsh was the first woman to capture Bud Cup kudos, doing so in 2005 with a Fatal Attraction buggy that was powered by a six-cylinder engine. Greenling, who doesn't have a Big Feature win yet this season, won Saturday's Pro Modified time trials over Eddie Chesser, the nine-time Bud Cup champ who drives The Rapture 4-wheel-drive Pro Mod missile.

Greenling's lap time Saturday was 55.19 seconds — just 0.06 seconds quicker than Chesser. Steve Dunson's Pump It Out was next at 56.75 seconds.

"What will it take on Sunday?" Greenling asked. "It will take me finishing. It will take me being fast. And it will take a little bit of luck."

As for Johns, she said she'll be saying a little prayer when she heads to the starting line.

"I always say a little prayer. ‘Don't hit anyone. Don't flip over.' I repeat it over and over," Johns said. "I don't want to see anybody get hurt out here. We try to play by the rules, stay in our lane and race clean."

Randy Johns, Lorrie's husband and buggy builder, says he thinks it would be sweet to see his wife take the Cup. Tyler Johns, the couple's son, will drive Patriot in Sunday's races.

"When we first got her to start driving, it was so I could keep racing," Randy Johns said with a chuckle. "Now here she is in a position to win it all."

He admitted he does get nervous when Lorrie mashes down on the gas.

"She says she's not competitive," Randy said. "But when it gets to be time to go, she puts on a different face. I would like to see her win it because it would be the first time anyone in the (V8 Sportsman) class to do it."

Lady Liberty will have to win her class Sunday to have a chance to get to the feature rounds, where the major points are awarded. She said Saturday she thinks her toughest competition in the V8 Sportsman division will come from the buggy called Southern Thunder. It was driven by Dan Greenling Jr. in November and January, but now Wayne Harris is back at the wheel.

"He's come all the way down from North Carolina to drive this weekend," Lorrie Johns said. "So you know he' serious. We'll have to pay attention, that's for sure. No sleepin' on the line."

In Saturday's V8 Sportsman Challenge time trials, Johns was clocked at 1:03.16. Michael Fillmore (Challenger) was second at 1:10.57 and Harris was third at 1:16.38.

Truth be known, Sunday is no different for Lorrie Johns, who always has butterflies before she races.

"For me, they don't ever go away. Other drivers seem to get to where they take it all in stride," she said. "But when I go out to that starting line, it seems like I'm always asking ‘Why am I here again?' or ‘What am I doing here?' It is very nerve-racking."

Sunday's four-hour competition will wrap up with the traditional Queen's Mudbath. The Big Feature champ will scoop up Swamp Buggy Queen Jennifer Federico and then leap into the murky water in front of the main grandstands.

This will be Federico's third and final dunking. A new queen will be crowned in late April at the annual Swamp Buggy Queen Pageant.

The Florida Sports Park entrance is at the intersection of Collier Boulevard and Rattlesnake Hammock Road, about three miles south of I-75 Exit 101. On-site parking is free. Tickets will be sold at the FSP pavilion and adult general admission is $20.